I have a new HP Proliant ML310e Gen 8 with the fancy new drive array. It replaces an older ML310 with the older array (larger trays).

I have windows server 2008 R2 installed on an SSD that is attached to the extra SATA port on the motherboard (port 6 according to system info). It works fine.

Now I want to install a 1.5 TB drive that came from the older (now dead) ML310 on the new system. I do not have trays yet, so just inserted into the array and shimmed the drive. It powers up fine, but does not appear in the server Disk Management.

I ran the HP Array Configuration Utility, and the drive shows up fine there, though unassigned and 'can't run the lights... etc.'. Fine so far.

But - the array config seems to want to make this drive a RAID (I don't want that) and it seems to imply that any action will wipe the drive or some other rather unfortunate consequence.

SO - HOW DO I use the array config utility to allow this single 1.5 TB drive to be seen by server 2008 so that I can use the existing data on the drive? I know from prior experience that once 2008R2 "sees" the drive (probably as foreign), I can import it and be fine. BUT HOW DO I GET THE ARRAY CONTROLLER TO show the drive to windows? or more important, without erasing the drive in the process?

Can anyone tell me how to set up the Array controller to straight SATA drives (no RAID array) from cold boot? There are so many options on the boot up screens (looks like 2 complete boot up sequences, one character based, one GUI based) and various "press X to enter Y setup" that I'm quite lost.

They change the bios on these things so often I can't keep up, hence the rather newby type question.

So from boot - how to configure a factory received (and untouched) ML301e G8 to run the drive array as just straight SATA drives?

Reboot, and The Intelligent RAID initialization is replaced by HP SATA Initialization. Now instead of just the DVD drive, it correctly shows the two installed SATA drives (the SSD system drive and the newly installed 1.5TB data drive). Also shows separately the DVD drive as before.

New problem. It shows SSD as ID 6 and the data drive as ID 1. This makes sense as the SSD is installed on the empty SATA connector on the motherboard.

BUT - when it comes to booting, it tries to boot from "Drive C', which it has decided is drive 1 - the data drive, NOT drive 6, the SSD.

I have one post awaiting moderation - I think it's because I put a link in the post.

I am certain the SATA AHCI is working just fine, but it looks like SATA controllers may be hard-wired to check lowest numbered drives first. At least that's what I'm seeing in all my searches today.

Which is really, REALLY annoying with a server. Here's my idea of optimium: a small SSD boot drive (cloned elsewhere for safety) outside the drive cage. Then you have 4 free 'slots' to put either a pair of RAID 1 drives (2 mirrors) or one set of raid 5 drives (4 drives).

Instead, due to the inability of the system to configure the SATA ordering, you are left with boot drive (SSD) taking up one of the precious hot swap cage slots, leaving only 3 for mirrors, data drives, etc.

Really, really not well thought out, IMO.

I'll move the SSD to slot one, but I'm already quite certain it will boot. It was booting fine when the the drive array was set to Intelligent RAID array. I'm going to put the data drive in slot 2 while I'm at it to confirm what I already suspect - that SATA controller plug order rules the day, instead of being configurable.

At least you'd think HP would realize that SATA port 6 (the spare one on the motherboard) might JUST be used for something special like booting the machine. Sheesh.

(sorry about the rant, but this type of thing with a simple solution that was left out is just so annoying).

Next week I'll contact HP to see if there's any way to make this thing boot from slot 6 without the RAID array turned on (i.e. all slots just AHCI SATA).

Thanks all.

p.s. Can't put the 1.5 on slot 6 as it needs to physically sit in the array cage. But slot 2, 3 or 4 should prove the case just as well.

OH yea - in my readings I also found out that indeed the RAID array is defaulted to ON in the BIOS setup if the RAID array is physically installed. You have to do the F9 thing and set the controller to SATA AHCI to get 'normal' SATA slots.

That from the HP ROM Based Setup Utility Guide. Just nothing more on any SATA port configuration. Too bad.

It just gets more interesting (or annoying, depending on your point of view).

Tried booting from SSD in slot 1, with SATA set to AHCI. *** IT WOULD NOT BOOT ***. That is, windows tried to start and immediately went to hard reset. Every time. After each Server2008R2 crash, it would give the recovery screen, but trying to boot normally always crashed to hard boot.

It didn't matter if I put the SSD on slot 1, or slot 6.

So I tried changing the SATA back to Intelligent Array. This time it booted to Server2008R2 just fine. No problems at all.

Now I understand the problem is a simple one - Win Server is loading an HP driver for the Intelligent RAID, and if the controller is set to AHCI then the driver fails catestrophically.

Problem is, Server 2008R2 will not install 'out of the box', you do the HP configuration setup and then tell it "Install with HP optinos" or whatever that screen was. It did the easy installation - installing all the necessary drivers for the hardware config at the time, then Server 2008 and all was good.

Unfortunately, as it did all the installations, I really have no idea, short of a complete reinstall of Server (using the same smart setup but this time with AHCI running instead of intelligent RAID). I don't want to reinstall Server, thanks to MS's fun with Keys and all that. What I'd like to do is just update the SATA driver and continue with the current install, but I have no idea how to do that.

Any ideas how to use the HP install to just update the drivers and not reinstall the whole system?

I did confirm that SATA AHCI will *always* boot from a drive on the lowest port. No options, no questions.

It appears the great idea of putting an SSD on port 6 and booting from it works great, but only if you configure the SATA controller as Intelligent RAID controller. Then port 6 is kind of a stand-alone boot device. Now this is exactly what I wanted, except there still appears to be no way to just add a drive containing data to the RAID cage without making a volume and losing the data. Grrrr!

Given what I know about RAID arrays, at least those I've dealt with (including Server 2003 software raids), it should be possible to add a single data drive without losing the data.

After all, that's just 1/2 of a mirror pair. No reason to assume (yet) that it can't do it, just don't know how yet.

In fact, given the config screen, which can be operated from within Windows as well as at boot time, it should be possible to create 4 stand-alone drives on the RAID controller. I realize that kind of defeats the purpose of a RAID controller, but really - I'm very VERY leery of any hardware RAID for the simple reason that if the server dies, the RAID may well be dead also. After all, my prior ML310G5 died very unexpectedly a few weeks ago, hence the new ML310eG8.

I do like the new form factor.

I do not like the "new" drive trays - not compatible with G5 trays, of which I had plenty. I bought the 310e with no disks, so have no trays at present. Waiting for a couple from ebay.

Overall I really like this new machine. For less money it has double the RAM and double the processor cores in a much nicer sized mini tower (for me anyway).

Just some of the new config options weren't all that intuitive and may have ended up giving me more grief than I want. I'd really hate to have to reinstall the OS (again).

I have a whack of 160 gig drives from some older HP servers, so I'm going to play a bit. I'm going to try two things:

1. Load up a 160 gig drive and add it to the RAID array as a single drive, and see if it retains it's data. This is critical. If adding a drive to the SATA RAID controller erases the data, then the RAID controller is pretty much junk in my books. Even if it works, I'll then try...

2. Put a blank 160 gig drive in the bay's slot 1, set the controller to AHCI (non RAID) and go thru the Server 2008 R2 install again from scratch. See what I get, and see how the drive in slot 6 looks when I'm done. The slot 6 drive is the boot drive for server 2008R2 using the Intelligent RAID array, but it should plug into a working system as just another foreign SATA drive. If it's readable, then I may just stick to AHCI for the server, especially if item 1 above demonstrates "RAID kills". (sorry, couldn't resist!)

I took one of my spare 160gig drives (from an older Proliant server) and formatted it on a Win7 machine as basic partition, std. format. I then copied about 100 gig of data to the drive and verified the copy. This was done on a BlacX USB. Once done I removed the drive from the system.

Next I took the drive and installed it into bay 1 of the Proliant ML310E G8 server (powered off, of course). After booting, during which the Smart RAID complained that this was not a "true" HP drive (and so could not control the LEDs on the non-existant tray), I connected to Server 2008R2 via RDP from my primary desktop.

I started the HP Array Configuration Utility (64bit) that was installed on Server 2008 during the Intelligent Provisioning install last week. After selecting the RAID controller, it showed the unallocated 160 gig drive. I chose "Express Installation" from the "Wizards" menu tab. It wanted to create a RAID 0 array and I let it.

Once that was done, I opened Computer Management / Disk Management and there was the drive on the system as a basic healthy drive. Using Explorer I verified the data was readable and intact.

So far so good.

I am now taking a second 160 gig drive, formatting it as another basic drive and copying another (different) 100 gigs of data to it on my Win7 machine. Once done, I plan to install this drive in slot 2 of the Proliant ML310 server and see if I can create another "RAID 0" volume that will be readable as a second stand-alone drive. That is, I am hoping that by adding a second drive (of the same size no less) the system will not simply try and mirror it with the first drive I just installed.

The other thing that piques my curiosity is the fact that there is both an SD slot and a USB connector on the motherboard. In some reading today, it appears one might be able to install Server 2008R2 on either an SD card or a USB key and have the machine boot from this instead of using a SATA drive for the OS.

THAT WOULD BE COOL.

I also read a review / how-to on the ML310 from a while ago that was curious. According to the writer, his ML310 had TWO SATA controllers on the MB - one for the bay and a second for the spare slot 6. He was able to select "boot from second SATA" and get his system to boot from slot 6.

I know for a fact that when I tried all the various boot options in the BIOS, there was only ONE SATA controller on my machine.

Reading his discussion a bit more, it seems he does not have the Intelligent RAID on his version. Interesting. I wish my hardware had the two SATA controllers - one for the bay and one for the DVD-ROM & Slot 6. That would have solved all my problems.

I did as I said above, powering down and adding another 160 gig data disk. Powered up, logged onto server 2008 and brought up the HP Array Configuration Utility. It showed the newly added drive as an unallocated drive. Again chose the wizard. Next. Done.

Now I had TWO totally separate data drives. Each one is in it's own volume.

So far, so good.

NOW, THE BIG TEST.

Step 1. Powered down and removed both drives. These were for testing after all.

Step 2. Added three new, different drives. First slot - a brand new 4TB drive, fresh from the vendor. Second disk, a 1.5TB drive containing data from a broken mirror on my old Server 2003. (the mirror from this set is working fine in a different server). This drive is a dynamic drive. Finally, a 500gig simple basic drive with data.

HP-ACU shows one unallocated drive (slot 3), plus two broken allocations in slots 1 and 2 (I don't have the terminology correct, but it showed the drives weren't what it expected and had little x's on them).

First I right clicked on the x-ed out drives (missing 160 gig drives in slots 1 & 2), one at a time. Clicked 'remove missing drive" (or something similar). When I was done I once again had 3 unallocated drives.

Selected the Wizard tab. It wanted to do all three drives as RAID 0. I said OK. When done I was presented with 3 volumes, each with 1 drive.

Went to Server's Disk Manager. I have 3 drives. First drive had to be set up, then formatted. Third drive (simple basic) was already available. Second drive (dynamic) shows Invalid.

Now I just have to remember how I got the other 1.5TB mirror to go from invalid to valid and I'm up and running.!!! (of course I forgot to write it down, and google searches aren't helping just yet).

SO - THE DEFAULT BEHAVIOUR OF THE HP-ACU Wizard seems to be to create single drive volumes on the RAID controller unless you take specific action to create a RAID.